Yahoo

Jabber

Skype

Interests

Location

For all you Tolkein/Lord of the Rings fans
Tolkein: Maker of Middle-Earth
" “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” With these words the Oxford professor J.R.R. Tolkien ignited a fervid spark in generations of readers. From the children’s classic The Hobbit to the epic The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s adventurous tales of hobbits and elves, dwarves and wizards have introduced millions to the rich history of Middle-earth. Going beyond literature, Tolkien’s Middle-earth is a world complete with its own languages and histories. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth celebrates the man and his creation. The exhibition will be the most extensive public display of original Tolkien material for several generations. Drawn from the collections of the Tolkien Archive at the Bodleian Library (Oxford), Marquette University Libraries (Milwaukee), the Morgan, and private lenders, the exhibition will include family photographs and memorabilia, Tolkien’s original illustrations, maps, draft manuscripts, and designs related to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion."

This is by no means like a secret spot and has gotten a lot of press. I've been twice here now and have had really amazing meals with my family. I keep close watch of the food scene in Japan and I can say this is the closest thing we have to a real tempura restaurant down to the hiddeness of the restaurant discretely off to the side of a building (In Japan a lot of the restaurants are hidden in this way like Jiro which is in a subway thing as I recall but it's hardly the only example of this phenomena over there). The tempura is light and airy with not even a touch of grease to be found on the paper after lifting it up with your chopsticks. It is constantly innovative like our chawanmushi with crab and fois gras. I have never seen chawanmushi with that combo before and while done somewhere else it maybe way over the top here the slight sea flavor and richness of the fois just made this divine. And also they change the menu. Last time I came with my family was winter as I recall and they had a slew of other dishes. Tonight the Crab was particularly divine and tasted of the sea as if Neptune consummated it's relationship with this specific crab and elevated it to godly level. I could go on and on. We had nice fatty toro among and actually our fluke as I recall the fish was had a very nice ever so slight smokiness or some taste like that. This is the type of meal you could pick one thing and unpack it for awhile. OHHHH and lets not forget the shrimp heads. I am a stickler for the shrimp heads. I'm that guy who asks the sushi chef to fry them after eating fresh shrimp for instances. I love the richness of them. Tonight they elevated that taste to a new level yet again. Even the soba was great and tasted straight off the block!!!! Soooooo yes really great all around BUT a word of caution for our frequent Japan goers.....it may not be quite the level of Japan but it is truly one of the top in New York!!! Go here now!!!

Chef Morimoto's Momosan (ramen plus other dishes) opened on April 8, 2016, at 342 Lexington Ave (between 38 and 39th St). I've eaten there 4 times, and I really like it.
My favorite is the lunch set. A small don (rice bowl) and small ramen for $16. The zuke don, which is raw tuna with soy, sesame, nori, scallion, over rice, is my absolute favorite. Chunks of very fresh raw tuna with a soy sesame seasoning over rice.
I've had the tonkatsu pork ramen as well as the tan tan - coconut curry ramen - and enjoyed both. The broths are rich. The ramen noodles are good but aren't as springy as the noodles at Daikaya.
I've also enjoyed the chashu salad - lettuce, cucumber, slices of pork.
The dinner menu has a larger selection of appetizers. I didn't care for the duck in crispy wonton skin (like a little taco), but that was because the sauce was sweeter than I like. The buta kimchi -- sauteed pork jowl and kimchi - was flavorful and delicious. The $2 side of rice was on the smaller side, however. I could have gotten 2 sides of rice.